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The CommunityNet Aotearoa monthly newsletter.
"News and views on community networking throughout Aotearoa."
Nominations are open for the CommunityNet Aotearoa Advisory Group. The Advisory Group guides editorial policy and strategy for CommunityNet and Panui. One position is open for nominations from community, voluntary and Maori organisations. Closing date: 13 November. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/advisory-group.
The first Panui was published on 1 October 2001. It included the CommunityNet Tip, a Site of the Month, a reader's article, and was two pages long. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/panui/ngapanui/issue1.
This edition has about 35 items and is about 10 pages (the HTML version takes less space than the accessibility (TEN) version).
It's grown because you are sending in more news, events, jobs, courses and links. We're encouraged by climbing subscription numbers (please forward this issue to a friend!), and by the 2005 survey, when 98% of people found it useful. www.community.net.nz/about/website/survey.
Miraz Jordan, the CommunityNet web maestro, has edited Panui throughout and its success is greatly to her credit. She writes the CommunityNet and Web Tips, and even after 55 issues still finds new tools and helpful ideas to write about. Ka pai and kia ora Miraz!
The Web Tips are collected at: www.community.net.nz/Links/MonthlySite .
We plan another survey next year — we've implemented almost all your suggestions from the last… Meanwhile, do send us your thoughts and ideas. We'd love to get recommendations for Site of the Month or your ideas for an article.
Send them to Miraz at information@community.net.nz.
People reading the maximum accessibility Panui (Text Email Newsletter Standard) may notice some differences. The TEN Standard has changed, and Panui's layout has changed to conform. www.headstar.com/ten.
The Significant Community Based Projects Fund was set up to provide communities with a way of obtaining funds needed to complete major projects. Particular importance is attached to projects in the fields of arts, culture and heritage; sport and recreation; conservation and environment; tourism; and economic development. The 2006/07 funding round closes 1 December 2006. Funding decisions will be made in April 2007. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/scbpf-06-07.htm.
The working paper Defining the Nonprofit Sector: New Zealand has been launched. The paper is part of an international research project that compares data on non-profit organisations in more than 40 countries, which will help measure the economic contribution of the community and voluntary sector in New Zealand. The first figures from the research project will become available in 2007-2008. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/defining-the-nonprofit-sector.htm.
TrustPower Community Connect is an online, searchable database of voluntary groups and not-for-profit organisations. It offers voluntary groups the chance to publicise their group for free and promote their events through the site's Community Calendar. The site also offers volunteers monthly articles and advice from experts in the voluntary sector and regular news items of interest to volunteers. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/community-connect.htm.
More than 20 groups were successful recipients for SKYCITY Queenstown Casino Community Trust 2006 funding round. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/queenstown-community-grants.htm.
Volunteering Canterbury marked its eighteenth birthday with the launch of a weblog at www.volcan.wordpress.com which provides a forum for interactive discussion among those who support Volunteers. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/new-volunteer-tool.htm.
Tax, and tax rebates, are important issues for the community sector. COmVOices have produced a new document of key information for all organisations about the tax rebate review for charities. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/tax-issues.htm.
Civil society can be a superpower; Civil society leaders should be given power against the warmongers; 'leadership corrupts'; UN Democracy Fund first grants; Millennium Development Goals Report 2006; Measuring Real Progress in Education; Global rights for disabled; the World Bank and Civil Society Organisations; "Linking Alternatives 2"; EC contradicts good governance standards; International Finance Institutions. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/a-lot-going-on.htm.
This new Charter outlines a range of rights and responsibilities of civil society groups. The annex includes a useful compilation of related best practice. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/european-active-citizenship.htm.
Funding is available to establish five new projects in Horowhenua and Otaki, Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga, Taupo and Rotorua, North Shore, Porirua. Applications close on 27 November. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/community-scheme.htm.
Maori and Pacific Island and other community organisations which have a focus on social welfare or social development are welcome to join the Aotearoa NZ ICSW Forum. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/icsw-membership.htm.
Several organisations, convened by Peter Fleming of Te Kaiawhina Ahumahi are in the process of holding some preliminary discussions about how to set some performance standards for areas such as management of volunteers and also governance. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/unpaid-work-standards.htm.
The Justice and Electoral Committee is seeking submissions on the "Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill". Submissions close on 20 October 2006. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/deletion-of-treaty.htm.
Rural Women New Zealand is taking over the publication of Rural Bulletin, a highly valued source of information for rural people since 1992. Anyone not on the mailing list who wishes to subscribe, should email ruralbulletin@ruralwomen.org.nz. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/rural-bulletin-revives.htm.
The Global Education Fund (GEF) provides funding for small projects to develop awareness and understanding of global perspectives among New Zealanders, and to encourage them to become responsible global citizens. Projects must be educational. Grants are between $2,000 and $15,000 (ex GST). www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/News/National/global-ed-fund.htm.
Many community organisations who find themselves forced to seek financial assistance from gaming charities are taking funds from the very people they are seeking to serve and care for. www.community.net.nz/CommunityCentre/News/National/nzcoss-gambling-stand.htm.
Latest community news, events, jobs and ads are online at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news.
A web way to feminism in Aotearoa / New Zealand. www.womenz.org.nz.
See news item above. TrustPower Community Connect is an online, searchable database of voluntary groups and not-for-profit organisations. www.communityconnect.co.nz.
DSNZ provides recreational, rehabilitation, education and competitive sporting programmes. These programmes help remove participation barriers and encourage people with physical or intellectual disabilities to get involved in snowsports. www.disabledsnowsports.org.nz.
Home and Family Society is a community-based counselling service providing professional counselling to individuals, couples and families. Two centres in Auckland: Mt Eden and Glenfield, provide counselling for adults, children and teenagers. www.homeandfamily.org.nz.
See news item above. Rural Women New Zealand is taking over the publication of Rural Bulletin. www.ruralwomen.org.
Compassion for Orphans is a Christian non-profit organisation (New Zealand Accredited Body) established in 2003 to intermediate inter-country adoption. [Note: most links on the site go directly to PDF files, with no indication.] www.cfo.org.nz.
Lists job opportunities up and down the motu, all of which have a connection with te ao Maori. No advertising charge for community organisations that tautoko Ngai Taua. www.mahi.co.nz.
Outlines events and happenings in Maoridom throughout the motu. Lists upcoming events, such as iwi and government hui, along with more social events that may be of interest to Maori. There are also some standing panui, relating to ongoing opportunities, such as notices about how to join iwi beneficiary rolls. panui.co.nz.
Settlement Support Hawke's Bay provides links to services and community groups and support for migrants and refugees. Working towards great long term settlement of migrants and refugees in the Hawke's Bay region. www.napier.govt.nz/index.php?cid=council/com/com_mig_general.
Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to a particular variable, such as population or wealth, and not just according to land area. www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/index.html.
You'll find these and more links at: www.community.net.nz/links.
These Events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/events.
These Training events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/training.
Email attachments have always been a problem. Size is one factor: it can take a long time to download an attachment over a dial-up modem. Once you have it on your computer, it's using up valuable storage space.
Then there's the problem of whether or not you have the right software to open an attached file. And these days, of course, there's the enormous problem of viruses, particularly for those using the Windows operating system.
Community groups may have a further problem: who exactly has that attachment? Is the Budget on Abe's computer when Betty needs to look at it?
The tip in PANUI Issue #45, October 2005 explained the usefulness of GMail for community groups. This Tip aims to point out its particular strength in the area of attachments.
GMail automatically scans all attachments, both inwards and outwards. If it finds a virus, GMail strips it out and alerts you of its findings.
This happens so quickly you won't even notice it, but what a good way to add some security to your email.
If you view a GMail message through the web page you can make interesting choices around attachments. For a wide array of formats, such as Word files, PDFs, Excel files, images, you can choose to simply view the attachment in your web browser or to download it, or both.
If there are numerous attachments on a single message one click is sufficient to download all of them.
If you leave the message on the server you can still view the attachments online, even if you also downloaded them. With two gigabytes of storage space on GMail you're not likely to run out of space - it's a great place to store attachments without having them fill up your hard drive.
While it may be easier for committee members or those on a project team to each have their own GMail account, if necessary a group can share the GMail account. Each person can then log in and choose whether to download the attached file or simply view it online.
Attachments saved on GMail are also available all over the country, or even the world. Do you need an attachment whilst visiting another organisation, or at a conference? Log on to the GMail address from any computer connected to the web and view or download it.
The CommunityNet Aotearoa email address is very active. We've been using GMail since April 2005 and have approximately 2,000 conversations stored, many of them with attachments. This uses a mere 92Mb (3%) of the storage available to us.
A 'conversation' may contain between one and dozens of messages.
If the person currently responsible for the email address is taken ill or goes on holiday then another person can instantly step in and has access to the full archive of messages, email addresses and attachments, because they are all stored in one place.
Sign up for a free GMail account.
[October 2006] Does your website attract visitors or repel them? This month we mention a couple of website traps that can send visitors hurrying away before they've got to know you.
Website visitors make very quick judgements. From the first moment they lay eyes on a page from your site their hand is hovering on the mouse ready to move along elsewhere. You need to make a good first impression if you're to have any hope of keeping them for long enough to get a message across.
Keep in mind that visitors arrive from search engines and links friends have given them, so don't expect them to turn up at the Home Page. They may drop in on any page on your site. Make every page a visitor 'magnet'.
The first paragraph on each page should hold the key message or content of the page. As well as helping your visitors, search engines use this for keywords, and often display it in the results list.
Do your pages look clean and tidy, or are they a jumbled mess of clashing colours and fonts, with strange sounds that blare out from the computer's speakers whether visitors want the music or not?
Does the page pop-up windows with ads? Does it force the visitor to watch some Flash animation while they want to get to the information? Do things bounce and jiggle, spin and scroll all over the page?
This kind of 'clutter' can quickly put visitors off a website. Of course, it also depends on the visitors you're aiming to attract - kids may find bright, colourful, active pages appealing, where seniors may prefer a quieter page, with cooler colours. But in any case, each item on a page should be there for a reason, not just because the person who made the page wanted to try out all the buttons on their web page software.
Does the page take ages to load, filled to the brim with pictures and endless text? Do visitors have to scroll, and scroll, and scroll to read the information? Is the text small and packed in tight so everything 'fits in'?
Visitors like spacious pages where things have a bit of elbow room. If you have a lot of information don't be tempted to make the font smaller and squash things up as that will scare visitors away. Keep the text size in the 'medium' range.
If you have a lot to say then find ways to divide the text over several pages, or at the very least keep the paragraphs short, with space between paragraphs and use plenty of headings that summarise the information beneath them. Visitors like to skim a page and use headings to find their way to the parts that specially interest them. With long pages, consider starting the page with links that let visitors jump to main headings.
If pages are necessarily long, then consider also making the same information available as a PDF, Word or text file that the visitor can download and maybe print off.
On the other hand, avoid forcing the visitor to download a file just to read what you have to say. Always prefer a web page over a file download. Providing the same information in several formats allows visitors to choose what works best for them.
If a download really is the best way to provide the information then make sure you at least provide a summary of the contents beside the link for the download.
For example, a Council may provide a 200 page PDF file with options for a planned neighbourhood improvement. It may not be realistic to turn the whole document into web pages, but there should be a summary of the contents of the document beside the link, perhaps containing highlights or key points.
Also be sure to include the type of file and the file size within the link itself, as this is an accessibility aid.
Visitors to your website are your guests, and your greatest treasure. Do everything you can to make them comfortable, to welcome them, to keep them happy.
Have a look at your website now. Has dust accumulated in the corners? Is there clutter where it shouldn't be? Does it need a bit of a tidy up?
Past Website tips are all available on CommunityNet Aotearoa.
A new facility, going live later in October, will help you find local courses and events. With the growing numbers of listings, we're adding the ability to show Courses and Events by geographic area. Initially they will be split into National events, Northern, Central, Southern or 'All'. As volumes grow, we can easily split them further.
The Community Development Resource Kit has been completely revised and refocused, and will be launched as the 'Community Resource Kit' at the NZCOSS conference on 17th October. It will be available as a 'How-to Guide' on CommunityNet, initially for download only, and later as also as webpages. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/community-resource-kit.htm.
In September 2006 there were 34,122 visits (August: 33,533).
This is a new high, despite some older Panui showing higher numbers. Web-statistics is a constantly changing field: we used to show 'raw' figures (= 62,549 visits for this month) but now we can exclude known 'web-bots'. We aim to show 'real people' visits.
In September, 67 new community items were published (August: 85):
Send in your free community advertisement at: www.community.net.nz/about/submit.
The most popular file download was: Conference programme: 737 downloads.
Find CommunityNet statistics at: www.community.net.nz/about/website/statistics.htm.
Remember: please forward the complete Panui to others who'll find it useful.
Miraz Jordan, Webmaestro.
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You are welcome to reproduce material, provided you acknowledge the source, like this:
"Reproduced from CommunityNet Aotearoa Panui, October 2006, www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/panui ".
Panui and CommunityNet Aotearoa are guided by an Advisory Group drawn from community organisations and are published by Department of Internal Affairs, PO Box 805, Wellington. Phone: 04 4957200. Email: information@community.net.nz.
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information in this publication, the publishers accept no liability for any errors and omissions. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors, not the publishers.